


Sick Days

by Shujinkakusama



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Family Fluff, Fluff, Freeform, Gen, Slice of Life, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 12:53:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9072517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shujinkakusama/pseuds/Shujinkakusama
Summary: The Gems really don't know what to do when Steven gets sick. / Pearlnet in the background, fluff, kind of freeform.





	

Steven was sick with the worst cold Pearl had ever seen.

 

Admittedly, Pearl’s understanding of human sickness was relatively limited, and Steven himself rarely got sick. Until fairly recently, humans hadn’t been very resilient to illness, and Gems simply didn’t _get_ sick the way organics did. Pearl did understand that there were several mild illnesses that could manifest serious symptoms, but that weren’t actually life-threatening, and several more severe illnesses that showed the same signs before abruptly ending in death—and the idea drove her absolutely frantic—because as far as she could tell, his temperature was up, his nose was runny, his voice was scratchy, and these things could be the beginning of _anything._

 

Garnet assured her that he would be fine, and Amethyst insisted that it wasn’t as bad as she’d seen Greg or Vidalia get—but that didn’t stop Pearl from bundling the boy up in as many blankets as she could find, cooking a gigantic pot of thick, home-made chicken soup, or offering him innumerable remedies that were decidedly dated.

 

Steven croaked out that he was fine, and Pearl wanted to cry, but she sat up with him and pet his hair and rocked him gently when he fell asleep sitting up in his blanket cocoon. Pearl took his mug of unfinished tea and set it aside, wrapped her arms around his blanket, and pressed a kiss into his matted curls.

 

Some time later Garnet slipped out of the Temple and was greeted by Pearl singing a quiet lullaby upstairs, soft and sweet and melodious. The Fusion mounted the stairs to join her in Steven’s bed, settling down beside Pearl, who dropped her head onto Garnet’s shoulder. Steven slept soundly through a whispered conversation about how afraid Pearl was, and how she needn’t be—and Garnet took up the lullaby for her when the boy stirred and coughed in his sleep, raspy and mercifully dry. Pearl scrunched her eyes shut and prayed to deities that she wasn’t sure she believed in that Garnet was right.

 

Pearl somehow managed not to cry when Steven’s fever broke, and she made even _more_ soup when he woke up almost half a day later. Steven couldn’t possibly finish it all, but he did manage a few bowls before even politeness couldn’t make room for more. Amethyst in turn finished off the bones and scraps from the chicken, and then ate most of the remaining soup.

 

“’M _fine_ , Pearl,” he protested weakly, but Pearl carried him back up to his bed and tucked him right back in after he’d finished eating and washed and gone to the bathroom. His voice still had that rough edge to it that sounded sandpapery, but at least he _could_ speak. Garnet congratulated him on his ability to handle Pearl’s hovering despite his cold, and Pearl’s face turned a brilliant blue. Steven laughed, but it turned into a string of coughs, and Garnet finally relented and let Amethyst call Greg for advice.

 

Which, really, they should have done to begin with. Greg was organic, knew more about modern illnesses, and brought some kind of awful-smelling medication that even Amethyst wasn’t bold enough to try. Still, Pearl read the bottle thoroughly, and it did exactly what it promised; helped Steven produce mucus to clear his sinuses, allowed him to breathe properly when he laid down, and helped him sleep—which, Greg insisted, was the third most important thing to warding off sickness, after blankets and soup.

 

Pearl couldn’t have been more relieved to hear it, and Greg asked that they please, _please_ , call if it lasted more than a week—and Garnet assured him that Pearl would call sooner than that if Steven got any worse at all.


End file.
